E85 thread - Page 15 - Zilvia.net Forums | Nissan 240SX (Silvia) and Z (Fairlady) Car Forum

kyral · 11-01-2020, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingtal0n

Ethanol is a very powerful solvent, sterilizing, cleaning agent. And S14 fuel tanks are very old.

Imagine you have a 20 year old fuel tank and pour in a very powerful cleaning agent for the first time in 20 years. Do you realllyy want to run a fuel system right after you pour in the cleaning solution?

As you should be able to imagine, when you put in the alcohol, it will probably solubize (soluabize? solubilityize...) It will probably dissolve all manner of filth from the tank and pull that into solution. Thus I believe you will be setting yourself up for a crazy amount of fuel system failure... clogged filters, ruined pumps, who knows what will happen next.

The other issue is, even if the tank is unaffected itself, there are many items inside fuel tanks which were never expected to come into contact with high concentration Alcohol. Maybe some metal piece or foreign O-ring materials, or maybe some low quality plastic with poor seals, who knows what. You put that Alcohol into a tank without going over/through every single submerged item is asking for big trouble.

The only way I would put alcohol fuel in my S14 tank is if I removed it first, completely empty it out, then wash and clean it spotless like new. And remove everything from it and inspect those things and verify they are alcohol friendly (perhaps by submerging them in a bottle of alcohol on the kitchen table for a while... or something like that). It's just my way of being absolutely sure... because a fuel system failure is no joke. Thousands of dollars in repeat spending and the chance of a double failure when you forgot to clean or replace just one thing.
Probably the only way I Would use alcohol fuel is by installing a fuel cell and strict return system for that cell to contain the alcohol away from my factory tank. IMO IMO

Finally I am worried about the factory flaw in S14 fuel tanks, you know the one where they start to leak? I am worried that the only thing holding mine together is the gunk on the bottom of the tank (ha-ha??).

Be very careful because alcohol is powerful and will strip, clean, and potentially corrode (as it will gradually pull in water) many things... unexpectedly... better just to drink alcohol instead usually

you've sold me, ill be making the switch from gasoline to e85 for my parts cleaning bucket

Sforteen · 11-01-2020, 09:13 PM

Been using E85 for years in my S14, I use a 7 Mircon fuel filter and dont let it sit with E85 over winter, in fact just burned out most of it this last weekend. I havent had any issues from using it that im aware of. I will be pulling the injectors this year and having them cleaned/ flow checked for the first time since using Ethanol.

The biggest thing i have seen with E85 is when it sits, inside my last engine you could see trace evidence of rust/ really light pitting where the oil control ring was sitting for the period of time it wasnt in use. I never did have any issues with that engine, it had a great leakdown when it was taken apart to inspect. It was 7+ years old and dealing with abuse i had never built it for.

It also had a very strange black film on the intake valves that was very sticky and hard to remove, it was very thin and just looked like carbon. Ive taken apart quite a few engines over the yeard and have only noticed this on engines that run alot of Ethanol.

zombiewolf513 · 11-01-2020, 10:42 PM

How often do you run a tank of premium through?

Sforteen · 11-02-2020, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zombiewolf513

How often do you run a tank of premium through?

I run Premium in it thru the Winter, so its getting multiple tanks.

When i noticed the things i described above that was before i ran premium thru it in the winter. It was on Straight E85 for a couple few years on that engine.

Kingtal0n · 11-03-2020, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyral

you've sold me, ill be making the switch from gasoline to e85 for my parts cleaning bucket

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyral

you've sold me, ill be making the switch from gasoline to e85 for my parts cleaning bucket

Hope u jest
You don't want to touch gasoline.

Alcohol is fine, if its just Ethanol. You don't want to touch Methanol.
The trouble is getting a pure alcohol without any methanol in it.
Methanol turns to formaldehyde when it comes into contact with alcohol dehydrogenase, a common enzyme. So beware any hand sanitizer that contains methanol, it is not safe to touch.

We get 100% Ethanol in our lab, very expensive.

I use the pure stuff for tissue dehydration, wax embedding, and denatured versions for sanitation/sterilizing when diluted to 70% with water.
Being so familiar with these and other dangerous liquids is why I stress their properties, to people who probably rarely see them in their full strength.

11-01-2020, 09:13 PM	#422
Sforteen Zilvia Junkie Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Posts: 333 Trader Rating: (0) Feedback Score: 0 reviews	Been using E85 for years in my S14, I use a 7 Mircon fuel filter and dont let it sit with E85 over winter, in fact just burned out most of it this last weekend. I havent had any issues from using it that im aware of. I will be pulling the injectors this year and having them cleaned/ flow checked for the first time since using Ethanol. The biggest thing i have seen with E85 is when it sits, inside my last engine you could see trace evidence of rust/ really light pitting where the oil control ring was sitting for the period of time it wasnt in use. I never did have any issues with that engine, it had a great leakdown when it was taken apart to inspect. It was 7+ years old and dealing with abuse i had never built it for. It also had a very strange black film on the intake valves that was very sticky and hard to remove, it was very thin and just looked like carbon. Ive taken apart quite a few engines over the yeard and have only noticed this on engines that run alot of Ethanol. Last edited by Sforteen; 11-02-2020 at 10:12 AM..

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11-01-2020, 10:42 PM	#423
zombiewolf513 BANNED Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: AZ Age: 33 Posts: 1,682 Trader Rating: (6) Rides Gallery: zombiewolf513 Feedback Score: 6 reviews	How often do you run a tank of premium through?